Fight for your right... To import marmite to new zealand

Photo credit: Celeste Hodges

A British expat is fighting for his right to... import Marmite to New Zealand.

They do have Marmite in New Zealand, but not the Marmite that UK citizens know and love: it is a different brand, created in 1919 by Kiwi manufacturers Sanitarium.

"Critics believe that it lacks the taste of the original", reports A Place in the Sun, but that has not stopped the company from seizing Rob Savage's supply of British yeast extract.

Savage, who owns a food importing company, has been bringing his own spread into the country for years to sell to other overseas property buyers. But his latest shipment of 2,000 jars were confiscated at customs due to copyright laws.

"This is a service New Zealand Customs makes available to any organisation seeking to protect a registered business trade mark and prevent potential trade mark infringements. Many organisations have a similar arrangement in place to protect their intellectual property in the case of imported goods," commented Sanitarium's general manager.

The company also has a similar arrangement for their cereal product Weet-bix.

But familiar food is one of the things that foreign residents miss most about their home country. Chocolate, HP sauce, Branston Pickle and Marmite are some of the most longed-for British edibles, according to BritishExpats.com.

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